Vitalik Buterin: Keep Classic, Core Separate to Satisfy Community

Buterin Says There Can Be ‘Happier’ Groups

Vitalik Buterin

Buterin made the comments in a French-language interview for French information resource CryptoFR. When asked what he would like to say to so-called “Ethereum maximalists,” he responded that different Bitcoin communities would benefit from remaining separate entities.

“In Bitcoin we can already see that there are two groups with different visions for Bitcoin’s future, and I think that the two would be happier if there were two separate protocols to satisfy them,” he said.

Buterin had previously criticized the so-called “Bitcoin maximalists’” view that “an environment of multiple competing cryptocurrencies is undesirable,” suggesting a Bitcoin-only ecosystem could have unexpected results, unlike those envisaged by its proponents.

He continued to outline a future for Bitcoin which would hold maximum benefits for innovation:

“There will be public and private networks; there will be apps which exist between different networks using systems such as http://btcrelay.org to communicate with each other. . .This is the best way of maximizing innovation.”

Ethereum has meanwhile experienced a levelling out in activity, with the Ether currency hovering at around 0.02 BTC per unit, almost half its high of 0.035 BTC in March.

‘Space for Independent Protocols’

Meanwhile, the ongoing dispute and debate between Bitcoin Classic and Core proponents continues without a decision in sight.

Last week, Blockstream President Adam Back outlined his intentions for Bitcoin Core scaling through the use of Segregated Witness, a method of improving network capacity currently going through “rigorous testing.”

During a presentation at the Czech crypto event Paralelni Polis in Prague, Back outlined the benefits to those who sign up to Core upgrades.

“It provides scale to those people who opt-in,” he said, “so if I’m running a payment processor and I upgrade the library that I’m using and move to the new types of addresses, which are backwards compatible, then I get cheaper transactions or access to more scale.”

On the subject of in-fighting between communities, however, Buterin remains diplomatic.

“I think there’ll always be space for several independent protocols; one protocol alone isn’t able to satisfy everyone’s needs, and especially no one community is able to satisfy everybody,” he said.

What do you think about the ongoing situation regarding rival blockchains? Do you agree with Vitalik Buterin? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.

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William Suberg

William Suberg is a freelance digital tech journalist who has written extensively about Bitcoin, the blockchain and the evolving cryptocurrency ecosystem for a variety of publications. He has been writing for Bitcoin.com since January 2016.

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